WASHINGTON UPDATE a series of illegal advance fees as well as misrepresented the cost and effectiveness of its services. The CFPB is seeking to halt the company’ s harmful conduct and to obtain relief for consumers, including refunds of fees paid to the defendant. The Bureau also released a consumer advisory with tips for consumers who are working to improve their credit history or who are dealing with credit repair services.
The Department of Education announced late last week that it is stripping the powers of one of the nation’ s largest accreditors of for-profit schools. The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, or ACICS, has been under scrutiny for continuing to accredit colleges whose students had strikingly poor outcomes.
The Education Department also announced that the three-year federal student loan default rate dropped half a percentage point, to 11.3 percent, for students who entered repayment in fiscal year 2013. This marks the third straight year that the default rate has decreased – for the 2010 fiscal year, the rate was 14.7 percent. The rates are based on the percentage of borrowers who defaulted within three years of repayment. Default rates for public and for-profit colleges dropped in the latest numbers, while defaults among nonprofit college students increased slightly, from 6.8 percent to 7 percent. Meanwhile, nine for-profit colleges and one nonprofit school, mostly small cosmetology schools, could lose access to federal loans after large portions of their students defaulted during the last three years. Default rates at those schools either exceeded 40 percent or were higher than 30 percent for three straight years.
In more bad news for Wells Fargo, the institution reached a settlement with the Department of Justice( DOJ) to pay more than $ 4.1 million for repossessing 413 cars belonging to protected service members without getting a court order. Under the settlement, Wells Fargo is to pay each service member $ 10,000, plus any lost equity in the vehicle with interest; must repair credit of those affected; and will pay a $ 60,000 civil penalty. The settlement covers repossessions that occurred between Jan. 1, 2008 and July 1, 2015.
FROM THE INTEREST GROUPS The Bipartisan Policy Commission( BPC) has a new paper out on the post-crisis financial regulatory structure:“ Americans have a safer financial regulatory system than before the crisis, but there are some less-than-optimal outcomes and unintended consequences of postcrisis reform that warrant attention, and also regulatory gaps that remain or have emerged since the crisis.” The three main categories of unintended consequences are migration and cessation of activities, binding constraints leading to cliff effects, and regulatory fragmentation leading to duplication and conflict” Read more.
Rediscover the lost art of human interaction.
Solo and small firm clients don’ t want to talk to a machine. Which is why firms like yours rely on Ruby, the highly trained team of offsite receptionists who handle all your calls with the perfect mix of friendliness and professionalism.
866-611-RUBY( 7829) or visit callruby. com / nacba
National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys Fall 2016 CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY JOURNAL 9